Featured Rider: Megan Sykes

Name: Megan Sykes

Business: Classics Eventing

Discipline: Eventing

Level: Advanced

When did you start riding? Tell us about your riding career. I started riding as a young girl. my mom always had horses and taught me the basics before I started lessons. I started out by doing western and 4H shows. In junior high I decided to get more serious and wanted to start to jump and in particular do 3 day eventing. I had my mare who had never evented before either and we both went from beginner novice to intermediate over the next several years. With her I went to Young Riders in 2014 and won the junior preliminary division at the AEC's.

I then purchased Classic's Mojah, an Oldenburg gelding as a 7 yr old after he didn't make it as a dressage horse. Mo and I have had a lot of success together and have placed top of the class at many international events.

Through the years I was a working student for heather Morris and Tamie smith. Working for them taught me a lot not only about riding but about this business.

What does your training regimen look like? It depends on what time of year it is. The regimen changes whether my horses are getting legged back up after a vacation or in the full swing of competition schedule. For the most part though, my horses hack twice a week, flat twice a week, jump once a week, and either gallop or do additional strength exercises like cavaletti work one day.

What horse has been most influential in your life? I want to say Mo because he has changed my life and has given me so much but honesty I think it was the yearling Pony of America, Tuff, that my parents thought would be a good idea to get their 13 year old daughter. He taught me more about horses than any horse I've ever had. Learning to break a horse from the very beginning and experiencing the process of success and failure so young probably should have made me hate horses, but it only made me more determined to get better and be a better trainer for each horse I had in the future.

What is the biggest life lesson you’ve learned from horses? Life isn't fair. In this sport even when you give your all and luck is on your side, you don't always win or even make it to the competition.

What advice do you have for other competitors? Take your time. There are 3 phases in the sport of eventing and sometime it takes time to get all 3 of those to come together in harmony.

Riding is a tough sport, what keeps you coming back each day? The horses and the community. Being able to see horses grow and understand their job, although a slow process sometimes, is worth the wait because you see them gain so much confidence in themselves and your relationship.

The family you gain from being in this sport is truly something as well. You find so many people who root for you and your horses to succeed that even when you feel like it's never going to happen, someone is there to pick you up.

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Thanks, Megan for letting us get to know you better! Click HERE to learn more about Megan's program!